There is a problem today in the generation of electricity by many of the standard methods which use up natural resources, are dangerous and/or require very expensive apparatus and installation. These include coal fired power stations which use up the worlds coal resources and produce carbon dioxide adding to the green house effect, nuclear power stations which while using up the world's supply of radioactive material require sizeable structures to contain the radiation and suffer from the disadvantage of leaving radio active waste to be disposed of as a by product. A third type is the hydro electric power stations. These are the most environmentally friendly type but require there to be a large head of water and a considerable drop to provide the necessary kinetic energy to drive the electric generator turbines.
It is therefore desirable to find some other means of generating electricity in which can use much more readily available sources of energy such as the running water of rivers or the wave energy to be found in the sea. There have been many proposals for harnessing such sources of energy but, generally speaking, these proposals have met with little success due to either the complexity of the apparatus needed to harness it or to the difficulty in converting the energy.
The present invention seeks to provide an hydroelectric generator which is of a relatively simple construction and provides an efficient cost effective system.